


On the Twelfth Day of Christmas....

by greerwatson



Series: Christmas at the Clubhouse [25]
Category: RENAULT Mary - Works
Genre: Christmas, Gen, ITOWverse, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-06
Updated: 2010-01-06
Packaged: 2018-05-21 09:56:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6047341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greerwatson/pseuds/greerwatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story was posted originally to the <a href="http://maryrenaultfics.livejournal.com">maryrenaultfics</a> LiveJournal community as a gift to the members for Christmas in 2009.</p></blockquote>





	On the Twelfth Day of Christmas....

It was Epiphany, and Gareth had a service.  Both Lucy and Olive would attend, of course; yet there were other, _previous_ duties.  Olive rose early; and after breakfast—no egg, of course; but, wonderfully, a half a slice of bacon with a piece of fried bread—she turned down the flagged passage past the pantry, and found herself walking out into a different kitchen.

She found Michael in an apron doing the washing up.  She must have looked surprised, for he explained obscurely, “Ah, it’s Little Christmas!  My grandmother came from Cork.” 

She nodded, politely.  “Would you like a cup of tea?” he added.

“Perhaps later,” she said, and made her way out to the hall.  Several people she recognized were coming through from the front door, dressed in their everyday clothes.  She followed them through to the ballroom.  It was sadly transformed from its holiday glory.  Bright sunlight streamed through from large windows, revealing the spruce tree denuded of all but the last few ornaments.  Boxes had re-emerged; and, one by one, the bells and balls were being sorted and tucked into place.

Olive hunted through them for Lucy’s contribution, fetched out a little grudgingly from safe storage in the vicarage cellar:  the village was not much of a target for the Germans, of course; but a stray bomb might come in any raid, especially if a plane were shot down, so they had had no tree themselves.  Mr Straike had felt strongly that they should do their bit, if they were to come to the clubhouse at all:  Lucy had acquiesced:  Olive had willingly sorted out the few boxes that her cousin was willing to spare.

There were a dozen pointed oval balls, each painted with small floral flourish.  These, being moderately distinctive, had already been boxed; and Olive found the tinsel garland among the others, all neatly rolled up.  Locating the plain coloured balls was another matter, since they were so easily mixed up.  She spent some time rearranging all of the sets carefully, matching size to size, knowing that many of the characters had jobs to go to and would only be able to find a few odd minutes to come by and pick up their property.

It was over an hour before she felt free to go back to the kitchen for the promised cup of tea.

“I think the children had a good Christmas,” Michael said, sitting down at the table with his apron still on. 

“Yes,” Olive said.  “Laurie was certainly pleased to see you.”

“Was Lucy _very_ disappointed?”

That, thought Olive, was putting it mildly.  The holiday at the vicarage had been ... difficult. Not at all what she had hoped on the train journey.  Indeed, if she hadn’t been able to whisk herself off and back in an instant, she would scarcely have dared make further trips to the Community’s festivities.

“She was a bit,” was all she let herself say.  She looked at the Christmas decorations that she had placed on the kitchen table.  It would, she thought, be best if she managed to return them to storage without bothering her cousin with the details of their return.

“And how has the holiday been for _you_?” Michael asked.   _He looks so young,_ Olive thought.

“Delightful,” she said.  “So good to meet everyone.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story was posted originally to the [maryrenaultfics](http://maryrenaultfics.livejournal.com) LiveJournal community as a gift to the members for Christmas in 2009.


End file.
